Brief Comments on Riyaadh al-Saaliheen #48

Some Voluntary acts are better than obligatory

بـسـم الله والحـمـد لله والـصلاة والـسـلام عــلى رسـول الله، وبـعـد

[Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen (3/529) of Shaikh al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله]

The Shaikh رحمه الله said:

The one who initiates the greeting of Salaam is better than the one who answers back, even though answering is obligatory while (initiating) it is voluntary. However, when an obligatory act is based upon this voluntary act, then the voluntary act is better than the obligatory one, because (here) obligatory act is based on a voluntary one.

This is one of those issues which became obscure to some of the scholars and they said: “For us, the voluntary act is better than an obligatory one.”

Rather, there is a consensus that an obligatory act is better (than a voluntary one). For example: The two raka`aat of al-Fajr prayer is better than the two raka`aat prayer before it, because the Fajr prayer is obligatory whereas the two raka`aat before it is optional. Even though initiating the Salaam is a voluntary act but still it is better than answering it, because answering it is dependent on its initiation.